Alright, I have no good excuse for not updating for so long other than the concept of life aggressively happening in a very intensive few months. It happens. However, after that I was just lazy and I apologize. It's a bit short, but I'm just glad to get over writer's block.

"You can't have both, you know."

Bree's voice sounded far away even to herself, her still blood pumping loudly in her ears as she stared at Edward's lips. Their breath still intermingled as her statement hung dryly in the small space between them.

She didn't know why that was the first thing to pop into her mind as her lips moved away from his. She wanted to kiss him again, but she bit her lip. She had to be honest to herself and to him.

"Hmm?"

"You can't do this and pursue Kringle too."

He blinked, confusion plain in his eyes.

"But…why not?" he began, his voice strained.

She sighed, her eyes flickering across his painfully naïve expression of confusion…..

And hurt.

"Because Ed," she said with a slow inhale, "it's not fair….for you, for me, for her…."

"I don't understand."

Bree shook her head, her arms folding across her chest as she attempted to avoid his gaze.

"Look…..you like her, we've established that, and that's all fine and well. I know how you feel about her….." she clenched her jaw, searching for the right words.

"And it's never really been clear how you feel about me…I don't want to be an afterthought."

"—you're not an afterthought" Edward interjected, but she swiftly cut him off.

"—If you had to pick, who would you choose first?"

His mouth opened but no sound came out and he swiftly closed it once more. His eyes had grown wide and his lips pressed into a tight line.

She waited for a response, but none came.

"That's what I thought," she said almost with a note of bitterness she fought to keep out of her tone. After another pause and a hard swallow she continued, meeting his gaze.

"People always want what they can't have, and I'm not going to sit around waiting forever. If you need a friend, I'm here. I will always be here for you….but I'm not going to be a romantic an afterthought."

She turned towards the door and left him standing by the wall in shock. She barely made out the words underneath his breath.

"But…..I care about you both."

Bree stared down at the paper crinkled up on her desk, her shoulders hunched over as she rested her head on her hand.

This is dumb, stop being such a sore loser.

She berated herself internally.

What did you expect, for him to completely forget about his crush and choose you?

Yes.

Yes, she did, and that made it sting all the more. She shook her head.

Get over yourself.

She straightened her back and sat back up with a big sigh. She rolled her shoulders and looked back over at the bustling precinct.

"The world won't stop just because you do," she breathed, turning back to her desk.

Back to work.

After the filed paperwork had made its way to the appropriate desks, Bree glanced at the clock, decided it would be a good time to slip away relatively unnoticed before the end of the day rush when a select few officers realize how far behind they are on paperwork and try to recruit her.

As she hunched over her desk, grabbing her notebooks and pens and stuffing them into her bag, the squeak of shoes against marble made her eyes raise from the desk to lanky figure standing beside it.

"Hey, Ed," she said evenly, trying to conceal the conflicting flux of emotions shooting through her.

"Bree."

He offered a tight smile, his hands interlaced behind him. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, his eyes flickering across her face.

"I….I meant it when I said I didn't want to lose you," he lightly shook his head, seemingly searching for the right words.

"I don't want to lose you as a friend…as my best friend," he muttered the last part under his breath as his gaze dropped to the floor.

Bree blinked, her brows furrowing slightly. She wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting, but this had not been it. He looked so…..vulnerable.

You can't have both, you know.

Her own words didn't seem to hold the same level of conviction as she reached out and lightly touched his arm. His eyes snapped up and met hers.

"I'm not going anywhere."

His eyes widened a fraction before his lips quirked upwards into a slowly spreading grin. His posture seemed to straighten and his dark eyes shone a little brighter. After a moment he pursed his lips into what she had learned over time was his pondering expression.

"But…..I do have one question for you," he began.

Oh dear.

"Yep?"

"Miss Kringle…she was crying earlier…..Why do you think she was crying? Was it Flass?...Flass is a Neanderthal. How could she be sad about him leaving?"

It all poured out of him in one long stream of consciousness. She stared at him a moment, doubting he realized how awful his timing was. With an internal sigh, she decided to let it slide and help him out. She pondered this for a short moment, and it finally clicked.

"Oh my god….."

"What?"

"They were dating!"

He eyed her skeptically, then his lips pulling into a distasteful grimace.

"B-but how? How could she like someone like that?"

She shrugged with a hint of exasperation.

"It's not like you can choose who you fall for," she said while fighting the urge to roll her eyes. She settled on disapprovingly shaking her head.

"Look, if you go after her, whatever. I've said my part, just please talk about anything but her around me, deal?" she said a bit sharper than intended.

"Deal," he said with a smile, unphased.

"Okay….I've gotta go. See you later."

She stood on her toes and pecked him lightly on the cheek, his face flushing almost instantaneously. She didn't fight the smirk that played on her lips as she clutched her bag and scurried down the precinct steps.

She reached into her bag, checking her phone for the time. As she zipped the pocket back up her gaze drifted back up and seeing a darkly dressed figure with a rather unusual walk, glancing around the precinct. Subconsciously she found herself slowing to a stop, meeting eyes with the suited stranger. The pale man frowned but a brief spark of recognition lit up his bright eyes. His mouth opened and then closed before blinking profusely.

Her brows drew together as she gaped at him for moment, half raising a hand before mouthing

You…

It was the man who had been unconscious on the table during the entire Maroni-Electrocutioner ordeal. Memories flooded back to her. He had asked to use her phone. She closed her mouth and decided against saying anything. She broke eye contact and decided to keep walking, but she felt his eyes trail after her.

Well that was uncomfortable.

She fought the urge to laugh despite herself as she pushed open the glass door out the precinct, allowing the icy wind to whip out around her.

As she reached her apartment she immediately changed into her workout attire, reality setting in. She needed to get some old fashion venting.

The jolting impact of her fists on the heavy bag and the slight sting of the material on her elbows felt cathartic.

It took everything out of her to sit there and let Edward continue to pursue a girl he didn't even really know. She wanted to be angry with Kristen, she really did. In a way she was. She was angry about how Kristen made Edward feel and how she treated him. However, on the other hand, she hadn't really done anything wrong aside from not viewing Ed the same way he viewed her. In a way she felt bad for her. Bree had been in that sort of position before.

Of course that did not make it any easier.

She continued to wail on the bag, alternating kicks and punches and elbows, the sound echoing in the empty room. Growing up in Gotham meant many things, including dealing with the unsavory aspects of life there. Her father had signed her up for muay Thai boxing classes at an early age. Until recently she never had a reason to use those skills, but hell, it was stress relieving.

But no amount of striking could ease the sting of rejection.

She kept punching until the blur of tears blinded her vision. With a shaky breath she wiped her eyes with her cloth-bound hands.

Retaliation of any kind would be juvenile and pointless, she knew….

But a little self-esteem booster never hurt.

She wiped her forehead with her towel as she walked to her bag, grabbing her phone off the wooden bench. Her chest fluttered as she hit the call button.

Well, no use wallowing.

She mused, holding the phone to her ear as she chewed at her lip.

"Hello?" the voice chimed on the line.

"Hey, Harvey," she smiled, staring out the window at the dim Gotham skyline.

Once again, thank you all so much for your support, and please review! You readers are the reason I've taken this story so much further than I would have on my own, and that really means the world to me. Stay wonderful, and I'll get this updated as soon as possible. :)